WATERVLIET -- Maybe good news also comes in threes. In this case, there are three businesses opening on 19th Street in the coming weeks, exemplifying the business-friendly atmosphere Arsenal City officials have been working to exude.

To add to the diverse list of current businesses, the Local Flavor Café is expected to open in early November with DeLollo's Hardware making a come back soon after with new management in mid-November. And the vacant Maggie's Gift Shop storefront is being transformed into a neighborhood liquor store by the brother of Maggie's proprietor.

Local Flavor Café owner Heidi Flynn probably put it best when describing rebuilding the feeling of community in the city by going back to entrepreneurial roots. She said there is already such a feeling among the small businesses that are working together and building success from the success of others, a sentiment shared in one of Flynn's favorite quotes.

"We're all working together," said the Watervliet resident, who lives within walking distance of the business that will showcase only New York state products. A regular in the local farmers market network for five years, she wanted to have these quality products available in a co-op-like setting with more regular hours than a farmers market. The 1,000 square feet of space was formerly Mr. Subb on 19th Street and she has been thinking about opening the store for nearly one year.

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That time frame is also about how long Axis Salon has been open further east on 19th Street. Owner Amanda Rickert is in the planning phases for expanding due to the high volume of clients at the salon. With 300 square feet, there is just barely enough space for three stylists at a time. Rickert wants to make another 700 square feet. She hopes to start the expansion in February and eventually have three additional employees in the new space.

"It's been about one year and we're already outgrowing the current space," said Rickert, originally from East Greenbush but was introduced to Watervliet by her boyfriend and when she worked at the Black Bear Inn, across the street from her current business. "Coming here was a positive thing for the salon."

She and Rickert both listed multiple loan and educational programs offered by the city which made it a bit easier to take the leap and own a business.

"More people are taking chances and willing to put themselves out there to make it happen," said Flynn. She initially plans to house 25 vendors' products in the café and each vendor will pay for the space while earning money from the retail sales. Flynn will make her money from her own products and the café coffees, teas, and food items like soups, sandwiches, and desserts. To do her part in encouraging small businesses, Flynn said she wanted the café to be like "an incubator."

Harry Avakian, a lifelong Watervliet resident, said he has watched the city "diminish" in the last decade but wants to see it come back to life. He's talked about opening a liquor store in the former Maggie's Gift Shop for more than a year but was not able to while St. Patrick's Church was an active religious venue due to a state law prohibiting such stores in close proximity to churches. But now he wants to continue his family's legacy at the location since they have had a business presence there for half a century in the 120-year-old edifice. He plans to open with a small staff of about two by Valentine's Day in the 1,300 square feet of space.

While these new businesses are just starting, a local hardware store staple is looking to renew its promise to the community of providing quality products possibly as soon as mid-November, said Henry DeLollo, long-time owner of DeLollo's on 19th Street. The store originally opened as a hardware store in the 1940s then became Carr Hardware in 2008 but plans are now in motion for two new managers, Michael Legnard of Clifton Park and Rich Gaughan of Cohoes, to run the business, said DeLollo. They'll be retaining four long-time DeLollo/Carr employees and the store will likely have about eight staff members.

"The city is coming alive again. These businesses are bringing the city to life," said DeLollo, who still owns the property with 10,000 square feet of storefront and plans to work at the new store.

Gaughan, who has been going to DeLollo's for two decades, said, "The more businesses on the street, the better."

With the influx of businesses, multiple store owners have talked about forming an IDA or other business development group in the city to support small business, Rickert and Flynn said.

"We're definitely interested in one," said Flynn.

Rickert added, "It would help us draw more business and network together. People want that community feel that small businesses bring. Watervliet is bringing that back."

According to city documents, there are six vacant buildings along 19th Street with 29 total businesses. The vacancies currently include, Mayor Mike Manning said, a former liquor store, the Maggie's storefront that will soon be home to a new business, the reopening DeLollo's, Cumberland Farms, the former A&G Computers which moved down the street and a closed gas station involved in a recent fire.

In Port Schuyler, there are five vacant with 26 businesses. On Broadway, there are three vacant with 17 businesses. And, on 2nd Avenue, there is one vacant with 16 businesses.

"All indicators show that the city is OK for business and we have a good mix," he said.

The 40,200 square foot elephant in the room when talking about business in Watervliet, however, is Price Chopper, which may be using the former St. Patrick's site to build a new state of the art grocery facility on 19th Street. Feelings on this have been torn by city residents. Manning said that the environmental review is ongoing but a decision on rezoning the 4 acre site from residential to business should be made in the near future.